Rohrer v. City of Lancaster

39 Pa. D. & C. 109, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 183
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County
DecidedApril 12, 1940
Docketequity docket, no. 9
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Pa. D. & C. 109 (Rohrer v. City of Lancaster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rohrer v. City of Lancaster, 39 Pa. D. & C. 109, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 183 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1940).

Opinion

Schaeffer, J.,

This is a bill in equity for a mandatory injunction to compel the City of Lancaster to reconnect the sewerage system of Lancaster Township with the sewerage system of the City of Lancaster for the disposal of township sewage by the city plant.

[110]*110The pleadings consist of plaintiffs’ bill in equity and the answer filed by defendant.

Findings of fact

1. The Township of Lancaster is the owner of a certain sewerage system consisting of trunk lines and laterals serving a territory in the western part of said township bounded on the west by President Avenue and the Little Conestoga Creek, on the east by the city line, on the north by Marietta Avenue, and on the south by Seventh Street.

2. The City of Lancaster, defendant, owns and operates a certain sewerage system partly within and partly without the corporate limits of the City of Lancaster, and, in connection with said system, operates two disposal plants for the treatment and disposal of raw sewage, both of which are outside the limits of the city.

3. As a part of its sewerage system, defendant has erected and now maintains a certain pumping station known as Maple Grove Pumping Station, which is situated in the Township of Lancaster.

4. On October 11,1938, plaintiffs, Willis Rohrer, Christian H. Brubaker, and Frank H. Feagley, Supervisors of the Township of Lancaster, connected the sewerage system of said township with the sewerage system of the City of Lancaster at the Maple Grove Pumping Station.

5. By reason of said connection raw sewage from the said section of the Township of Lancaster was discharged into the sewerage system belonging to the City of Lancaster and was treated and disposed of by the city from October 11,1938, until July 10,1939.

6. Said connection was made pursuant to the following letter dated April 21, 1938, from the City of Lancaster to the Supervisors of Lancaster Township: “Board of Supervisors, Lancaster Township, Lancaster, Pa. Attention: Mr. Frank H. Feagley, 1176 Maple Avenue. Gentlemen : Replying to your recent letter concerning the charge to be made by the city for disposal of sewage, we have no definite information at the present time concerning the [111]*111amount to be charged but as the Department of Health seems very eager for you to make this connection, it will be satisfactory for you to make it at any time and the question of charges will be settled later. Yours very truly, J. Haines Shertzer, City Engineer.”

7. On July 29, 1938, the Supervisors of Lancaster Township agreed “to pay the charges to be agreed upon by the City of Lancaster and the Township of Lancaster”, as per the following letter: “The City of Lancaster, Lancaster, Pa., Att: J. A. Taylor, Comm. Dear Sir: At our regular monthly meeting on July 6, 1938, the Board of Supervisors of Lancaster Township unanimously agreed to make the connection to the City of Lancaster’s well as requested by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for the disposal of Lancaster Township’s sewage, and to pay the charges to be agreed upon by the City of Lancaster and the Township of Lancaster. Very truly yours, Frank H. Feagley, Secy.”

8. For about nine months after said connection, negotiations continued between the Township of Lancaster and the City of Lancaster relative to the charge for sewage disposal or compensation for the use of sewerage facilities. Proposed agreements were prepared and submitted, but the' parties failed to reach a mutual agreement.

9. On July 10, 1939, the City of Lancaster disconnected and severed the connection between the sewerage system of the Township of Lancaster and the sewerage system of the City of Lancaster at the Maple Grove Pumping Station. This was done after prior notice from the city to the supervisors “that unless a proper contract was entered into, the connection would be severed by the city.”

10. Since July 10, 1939, raw sewage from the portion of Lancaster Township referred to flows into and contaminates the Little Conestoga Creek in said township.

Discussion

The question involved in this proceeding is not one of rate, service, or extension. It does not relate to a transac[112]*112tion between a municipality and a public utility, but it is a controversy arising between two municipalities, the City of Lancaster and the Township of Lancaster.

The first question is that of jurisdiction. Under The Public Service Company Law of July 26,1913, P. L. 1374, municipal corporations are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission beyond the “limited extent” as provided for in certain parts of the act. These parts are referred to in detail in Barnes Laundry Co. v. Pittsburgh et ah, 266 Pa. 24, 31, 32. The Public Utility Law of May 28, 1937, P. L. 1053, repealed the former act but the jurisdiction of the commission was again limited as to “municipalities engaging in public utility business.”

Article I, sec. 2, defines the words “public utility” to include any corporation “owning or operating . . . equipment, or facilities . . . for Sewage collection, treatment, or disposal for the public for compensation”, and the words “municipal corporation” to include “cities” and “townships”; but provides that the word “corporations . . . shall not include municipal corporations, except as otherwise expressly provided” in the act.

The following sections refer to or mention municipalities :

Section 202(e) requires the approval of the commission, evidenced by a certificate of public convenience, for any public utility to acquire from or transfer to a municipal corporation the title to or the possession or use of any tangible or intangible property.

Section 202 (g) requires a like approval “For any municipal corporation to acquire, construct, or begin to operate, any plant, equipment, or other facilities for the rendering or furnishing to the public of any public utility service beyond its corporate limits.”

Section 301 provides that “any public utility service being furnished or rendered by a municipal corporation beyond its corporate limits, shall be subject to regulation and control by the commission as to rates”.

[113]*113Section 401 contains a similar provision as to “service” and “extensions”.

Section 508 provides that certain sections of article V, relating to accounting and budgetary matters, “shall apply to any municipal corporation rendering or furnishing to the public any public utility service.”

Section 903 includes municipal corporations in the provisions of the act relating to enforcement.

Section 911 requires the filing with the commission of any contract or agreement between a public utility and a municipal corporation.

Section 920 confers on the commission the power to vary, reform or revise certain contracts between a public utility and a municipal corporation.

The Public Utility Law of 1937, supra, sec. 2, defines “Service” as follows:

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Related

Barnes Laundry Co. v. Pittsburgh
109 A. 535 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1920)
Bethlehem v. Allentown
118 A. 643 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1922)
Ambridge Borough v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
137 Pa. Super. 50 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. D. & C. 109, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rohrer-v-city-of-lancaster-pactcompllancas-1940.